OT: Joysticks to control servos?

[Peter Nachtwey]

This sounds like fun.

$1000 as a base price is still pretty high.

Yes but if someone is using it day in and day out I bet that if you selected a dozen joysticks the operator would be able to tell you which one he liked best.

Most pots I have seen are just a wiper that rub against wound wires. That is not very precise and may not give the operator the amount of fine control at low speeds.

It may be good to have a function that transforms the linear output to a non linear velocity so that the operator has very fine control at low speeds. This may compensate for joysticks with coarse outputs.

When the drill press hits the metal what will keep the controller for winding up the integrator while trying to maintain a speed? Have you thought about switching the speed control over to a torque limit at that point?

There are a lot of little details that can make this joystick idea a winner or a loser.

 

[Bobbias]

I am not handling most of the job. I was just told to find pricing and delivery on a joystick. All that stuff is for someone else to deal with. Seeing as I'm a co-op student, I'm not about to start preaching that sort of thing to my boss, lol. While I agree that more expensive items are generally much better quality, and that potentiometers can be problematic like that, there's nothing I can really do. All I was assigned was to find joysticks, get some pricing information and lead times.

 

[TheStarr]

As a co-op you need to learn one very important lesson.

GIGO (google it)

You gave us very little information. That may because you had very little information...but that is still your fault.

If I was your boss, I would hope that you had the system knowledge to ask the important question up front about the project.

It is very annoying to have someone return 10 times asking small questions that they should have asked at the beginning of the project.

People will respect you more if you ask the hard question upfront and refuse to proceed without at least the basic facts required to complete the task.

Anyone who is willing to venture out without the tools required to complete the job obviously does not have the skills to perform the job or does not value their own time, therefore, why should I vaule them.

Sorry to get all "preachy", but it is for your own good.

 

[Bobbias]

I've been googling it alongside the question here (whenever I need to find anything, I begin by googling it.) Unfortunately, it's hard to be specific about things in google without ending up sifting through tons of garbage pages for 1 good useful page.

As for the information, I apologize for any frustration it my have caused you guys. I know it's best to begin with every bit of info you have, but when I posted that, it was all the info I had. And I did ask on numerous occasions "Is there any more info on this thing" to my bosses (since most people here are more or less considered my boss, from ym perspective). I got bits and pices over time, but I doubt anyone here knew much about what we needed. We do not usually deal with joysticks. And if I knew what sort of questions to ask them, I certainly would have asked.

I agree that when you set out to do something, you should have some basic knowledge of what's required, but to be honest, until I was asked to look for joysticks, I didn't know the first thing about industrial joysticks. Our company primarily deals with PLCs and that area of the automation field, so this was a rather unusual request, as far as I can tell (min you, we do seems to get quite a few unusual requests).

In any case, I do apologize for any frustration this may have caused you. I turned to here because I knew I knew absolutely nothing about what I was looking for, and hoped that you guys could help me figure out what I needed.

 

[ndzied1]

I'm not sure of their presence in Canada but I believe that OEM Controls will have the combination of quality & value that you are lookin for.

http://www.oemcontrols.com/index.html

 

[Bobbias]

Thanks for the link, but I saw no potentiometer options for their multi-axis controllers. I don't know if hall effect joysticks would be a viable option.

 

[ndzied1]

I know this may be a foreign idea on the 21st Century but you ay just want to call them and ask them. I find with this type of searching around that I get much further much faster by talking to people directly.

 

[Bobbias]

Well, I've got quotes from 2 companies right now, but the second one was even hard to get through to on the phone. Though I will admit that I'm not too fond of the phone. I mostly hate sounding like and idiot when I'm asking about a part that I know nothing about :/ But regardless, sometimes it's necessary.

 

[TheStarr]

No need to apologize, I was not mad. Just frustrated that we can't help you.

No one expects you to know about joysticks. You wouldn't have asked if you already knew everything.

But, the basic operation, layout, and components of the drill press would have helped a bunch.

By the way, is it really a drill press? Or a mill? Cuz I have never seen 3 axis on a drill press. That is kind of the definition of a mill!

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

I got to figure out how to do that.

Your post reminded me of a video similar to this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnkIG0RvVkQ

I saw a very similar video involving a CNC mill conversion (manual mill upgraded to CNC controls.)

Brian

I need to research that. I just need to do demos so I don't need industrial strength devices. An iPad is more expensive but it has an accelerometer and the screen. Just wait. Some one will do it soon.

Still it will be hard to beat the xBox controller.